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Monday, October 24, 2011

The Tithe Story

Top Ten Percent

I was
asked to write about my favorite tithing story…no problem, it is fresh in my
memory.When I sat down to write this
recollection, however, I felt like some explanation of a tithe needed to come
first.A simple definition: ten percent
of your income earmarked for the church.More than that, though, it is a test of our obedience and faith, as well
as an opportunity to join in the work God is doing and being blessed by what
can happen when we allow our little droplet of money to jump into the pool of
resources destined for bigger impact.

A
general memory of tithing dates back to childhood, hearing and seeing my
parents (both of them worked) getting their tithe together, writing a check and
sticking it in the envelope for the offering plate.No grumbling, no worries, it was a given.

Before my husband was “saved” (another story
for another time) our church attendance was sporadic and I’m pretty sure George
would not have known or cared about the “ten percent” thing.We were definitely living paycheck to paycheck,
and easily blowing ten percent on non-essential junk.

After
2002, however, lots of things changed around here.The man who previously wouldn’t care to read
any book dove head first into the Holy Bible and …Dave Ramsey’s Total Money
Makeover.This combination of reference
materials meant tithing was now a part of our family’s existence.It wasn’t an optional, casual thing.It
was very important to him to tithe because his newly found faith in Christ was
changing things for the better, and God seemed to be pouring out the grace.

Here’s
the story part:We planned a trip to
Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park one weekend.We rented a cabin for 2 nights which meant we wouldn’t be at church to
drop off our tithe.George realized this
when we were in Henderson gassing up the vehicle, so he insisted that we put
the tithe check in the mail before we go any further.Of course, I reasoned that we could just
write a check for 2 weeks next time and call it a day.He said that wouldn’t represent first fruits
if we spent money on lots of other things, and even received money again before
giving to the church.He said that God
would know his heart on the matter and to just mail it regardless of all the
logistics like when the church would get it, when they would cash it, etc. So, I mailed it...there was a big mailbox nearby.

Our
cabin at the park was one of several others that were occupied by an apparent
family reunion…we were the only ones on this particular stretch that “didn’t
belong.” Slightly awkward, but we just went about our fun on the paddleboats,
at the pool, walking around the lake.The
second day we were there, a water pipe to all of our cabins broke, and we were
without water. That was unfortunate, but
they said they were working on it and it didn’t bother us as we were going to
Eddyville to play at Venture River Water Park that day anyway. We ate a
wonderful supper at the lodge and returned to find that we still didn’t have
water, so we took a chlorine bath at the Lodge Pool.That evening…if I have my timeline correct,
they managed to get the water going again, but only to our cabin, debris was
clogging the line to all the others.The
reunion group was very unhappy and said they were leaving, but before they
left, they gave us quite a bit of their food, since many wouldn’t be there to
cook it or eat it. People from that
group kept bringing us food they didn’t want to have to take with them, one
person after another brought sweet corn, bread, juice, eggs, cheese, ice cream
all kinds of stuff.It was actually much more than our family
could eat.This reminded George of the
verse in Malachi where he says something like…see if I will not throw open the
floodgates and pour out so much blessing that there will not be enough room for
it.What a blessing indeed!When we went to check out, the desk clerk apologized
for our inconvenience and gave us a percentage off discount, which was another
blessing.

We call
this our tithe story because everything was just so obvious that it couldn’t be
mistaken for anything other than a lesson from God.